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Talk:Cutie Diamond
ending not quite Dick Tracy fasion The death of Cutie Diamond is not quite on a par with that of the usual Chester Gould forumla for killing of a criminal {Tire bootlegger BB Eyes trapped in a tire at the Bottom of the Bay; Flattop Jones accidently drowning in the same park lake in which his accomplice Bud Jenkins {Evil Twin of Junior Tracy} had drowned; Laffy Smith dying of Lockjaw after cutting himself on a glass ether can; Doc Hump killed by one of his own vicious dogs}; a more Dick Tracy ending would have the mortally wounded Diamond trying to reeach his house but instead failing and falling dead under the post with the skull of his last victium! Indeed an epilogue would have been a frame of a newspaper picture with a caption of "Gangster Cutie Diamond lies dead under the skull of lawman John LAw who disappeared years ago" {John law being a nickname of any law enforement officer} That would have been more in the usual Gould Moralality play of law and order! Maybe, but keep in mind that the Boris Arson/Cutie Diamond story took place in the mid-30s, when Gould still dealing with more real-world "cops-and-robbers" type stories. The Grotesques and their graphic, unique and ironic demises wouldn't start to become a staple of the strip until the 1940s (with a few notable earlier exceptions, like Doc Hump or Whip Chute). Dmitrioi (talk) 17:40, November 21, 2015 (UTC) In real life... Although the FBI had been given jursidiction over Bank robbers of Federal and State Banks that were part of the Federal Reserve system in 1934, in real life...the Arsons {and Cutie as an accmplice} would have been liable under arrest by the FBI for crimes committed on Indian Reservations and driving a stolen car over State Lines! {THis last crime is what brought John Dillinger under FBI Jurisdiction-not his bank robbing or Police killings}. Cutie death at the hands of a police posse is remenesint of bank robbers/police killers Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Lester "Baby Face" Gillis in 1934. Gould use of words, symbolism and Irony Gould certainly knew how to use words and symbols to get his law and order messaga accross. For example-he implies that Cutie diamond hideout is in Arkansas-when Cutie is boasting of his murders, he mentions only one state {Oklahoma} and two cites without states names-and which are located in Arkansas via different sections of said state. {Likewise Arkansas is known as the Diamond State-same as his surname{!} A wordless clue Gould gives in regard to the victium that followed Cutie was indeed a law officer-is that although Diamond boasts of the stories of three of his "souverniors" to the Arsons {Sherriffs badge, bank teller shade, policeman's white hat} among such objects is another law officer's badge and revolver! The only other killing Cutie boast about is the officer that followed him to his hideout. Likewise Gould also used words for ironic effect: in the sunday version which showed Diamond dying Gould called him a self styled "Robin Hood"-however unlike the Robin Hood of legend who was tricked and trapped into becoming an outlaw for poaching the King's deer and who allegedly robbed the rich to help the poor, this modern day outlaw steals and kills from everyone else to enrich himself with the ego boasted noterity of being an outlaw {i.e. sending pictures of himself to the newspapers}. LAStly there is the unentional irony that this cold blooded and sadistic killer -despite his vicious nature and gun skill--can only be "safe" behind bars in a cave guarded by wild beasts! P.S. a bit of comic releif is when Chief Yellowponey stands in front of the door to Diamond Cave hideout; when Diamond fires a 'greeting" from his machine gun through the door..the only casualty is Yellowpony's big hat! In real life anyone standing in front of the door would have been killed; Yellowponey would have been Cutie Diamond 5th murder victium and Cutie Diamond-like Flattop Jones later-would have been known in fictional crime annals as a "Ace killer"! Indeed the usual Dick Tracy Ending for Cutie diamond -if it took place a few years later-would not only have him killed near the remains of his last victium-but also killed by his own rifle held by Chief Yellowponey!